Shepard was just relieved that she wasn't the one who had to navigate the ridiculous maze of laser beams. No, she was happy to leave that all up to Kasumi and concentrate on keeping her mouth shut and her pistol trained on the doors leading out to the corridor. If anybody should wander in, she planned to aim for the gun-arm then the kneecaps and after that, they'd do the old bind-and-gag routine. It wasn't perfect and it probably wouldn't meet the Alliance's definition of 'political sensitivity', but it was a hell lot more diplomatic than a shot to the head.

While the thief weaved and ducked through beams of the security system, Tali was using her omni-tool to reference the map of the estate EDI had provided. She noted a few areas of concern, particularly what appeared to be a security stronghold and a staff living quarters and then pointed to a room on the far side of the corridor, one that had an anomalous heat signature depicted in undulating yellow splotches. From the grainy image, it appeared as if waves of energy were emanating from the walls while other parts of the structure were depicted as nothing more than hazy grey stains.

"That just looks weird," Tali muttered. "EDI must have made a mistake."

Shepard squinted at the map image. "EDI doesn't make mistakes. Optimal capacity, right?"

"AIs aren't infallible, Shepard. They aren't even trustworthy. My people know that better than anyone."

"Still, it wouldn't be a bad idea to check it out," she said.

Turning, Shepard saw Kasumi nearing the security console in the far corner of the room. Just as the thief stepped over a low beam, the configuration of lasers shifted, some lines of light disappearing and others shooting forward to replace them. Kasumi's mouth opened, panic in her eyes as she swerved to the side, dodging one laser and then dived to the floor, shimmying under another.

"Close one," the thief sighed, gingerly stepping over the last of the beams and into a safe zone. Dusting off her cloak, she indulged in a quick bow to her audience and then tried the general clearance password Tali had hacked from the Bureau's systems: "JaxDannilGoldVintage". Shepard's wide-ranging experiences in the galaxy's finer drinking establishments helped her to identify this as an expensive brand of turian liquor. She imagined Captain Severin had been responsible for choosing the passwords.

The laser beams gave a quick flutter and then the room dissolved into darkness again. Kasumi's hand motioned to them, inviting them into the storage space.

Shepard used the light from her omni-tool to illuminate the stacked boxes of Saren's old possessions, which Bureau officials seemed to have catalogued and inventoried. She pulled off the lid of one of the uppermost boxes and found neatly folded piles of turian clothes, mostly formal wear and camouflage for hunting, which said a great deal about the lifestyle of a famous Spectre. The high-necked turian attire reminded her of Garrus' clothing scattered across her bedroom floor, a rush of heady abandon as she tipped back another glass of red wine and crawled onto the sofa, laughing as she felt him pressing up behind her...

Angry at herself for getting distracted, she snapped the lid back onto the box and checked the one underneath. It was full of old holos, which surprised her. She'd never expected Saren to be the nostalgic type. There were a few faded images at the bottom of the box that appeared to have been taken a long time ago, perhaps even before Shanxi. There was an odd touch of sentiment to these pictures, which showed a gawky, bare-faced turian and a smaller one, a child, recognizable as Saren by the knife-like fringe and the stitched pattern of his mandibles. They were young and they almost looked friendly, posing outside what appeared to be silos, part of a colonial farm.

Most of the images were of an older Saren with a constantly rotating bevy of underdressed asari. Amongst these, Shepard espied a few images of Matriarch Benezia, looking a few years younger and a whole lot less indoctrinated by Reapers. In one, she was posing at some sort of benefit dinner with Saren, accompanied by not one, not two, but all three members of the Citadel Council.

Shepard gathered up all the holos of the matriarch that she could. Liara might like to have the ones that didn't have Saren in them. And the holo with the Council in it...well, it might be useful to put that one into safe-keeping, Shepard mused, just in case they ever tried to betray her. Councillor Velarn would get a real kick out of waking up one morning, flicking on Citadel Newsnet and seeing a giant picture of himself looking all buddy-buddy with the sadistic son-of-a-bitch who almost destroyed the galaxy.

"Um, Shepard?"

She turned. Kaiden was staring down at the contents of a bulky brown trunk.

"What is it?"

"Look for yourself." He stepped back from the trunk, trying to swallow his disgust.

Oh, she looked alright. And what she saw was enough to turn her stomach.

Atop a pile of exotic souvenirs and objets d'art was a necklace made of dried pieces of flesh – human fingers, toes, ears. It was impossible to know if it was Saren's own handiwork or if it was just a trinket he'd picked up from batarian raiders and taken a shine to. Still, it was a lovely reminder of Saren's feelings on humanity. She'd have to remember it any time she felt tempted to pity him.

She reached up and closed the lid of the trunk, locking down the gold clasps at its sides. "And that's why we needed to kill him."

The others had managed to avoid finding human remains, but they'd had little luck in discovering anything relevant to the Reapers. Fumbling around in the dark through loads of dusty boxes was discouraging work. Aside from the risks of detection, they didn't have enough time to examine every single box packed along the edge of the wide storage room.

Shepard crept over to the glass-plated door leading out to the hallway. She couldn't spot anyone from where she was standing. She slid the door open a crack and peered around the edge, catching a glimpse of a turian agent striding briskly down the hall.

Unfortunately, he saw her too. He reached for his gun.

Shepard pummelled his throat with the flat of her hand as she reached for his pistol.

He stumbled back, regaining his equilibrium for a moment, and swiped at her with his talons, struggling to regain control of his weapon.

This time, she decked him in the face, right under the mandibles, making his sharp teeth chatter together.

He thumped back against the carpet and she straddled his chest, prying the gun from his hand. She thwacked him with the butt end of it for good measure.

It wasn't until she started back into the storage-room, dragging his hulking body along by the heels, that the adrenalin faded and she realized how freaking painful it was to go around punching species covered in metallic plate. She stopped, giving her fist a little shake and fanning out her fingers to check the damage. It didn't feel as if anything was broken. She could still grip a gun, which was a distinctly good sign.

"Brought you guys a present," she said, showing her friends the prisoner. She tore off his boots and then the nylon socks that covered his big, clawed feet.

"Someone care to open the turian's mouth?"

The poor sucker was unconscious, but nevertheless, no one looked eager to risk those teeth.

"I'll do it," Jacob volunteered. He reached down and carefully prised open the turian's jaws, causing the grey mandibles to draw back like switchblades.

Tying the socks together at the bands, Shepard stuffed them into the guard's mouth then double-knotted the ends around the back of his fringe. Presto, change-o, one home-made gag. Probably a bit smelly, but it wouldn't kill him. She used the rope to bind up his arms and legs, making the ties nice and tight, before she and Kaiden dragged him into a corner.

With the guard out of the way, they ventured down the hall. The interior of Saren's mansion had an ornate creepiness that Shepard couldn't quite place. Maybe it was just the off-kilter mix of high-tech gadgets with antique contraptions, flat-panel vid screens with flickering gas-light sconces. Maybe it was the dead Spectre's presence looming over the place, her memory of the manic glitter in his eyes just before he blew his brains out and that robotic nightmare tore out of his corpse. Or maybe it was just the pesky security drones that kept zipping out of the shadows, always from the last place she'd expected. Gunfire or a blast of biotics brought them down without too much trouble, but, in the dark, they really gave her the creeps.

Many of the rooms had already been cleared out or were in the last stages of liquidation. The ones that were still intact had a haunted quality. The wallpaper was peeling off in long, curly strips and the carpets were splotched with stains that one could make out even in the dark. Some of the rooms contained hunting trophies, the heads of dead creatures mounted on the walls, their eyes replaced with glass beads that stared and stared, never blinking. Saren had been an avid big-game hunter. Even when he wasn't out being an evil Spectre, he'd still been out killing things. Shepard wondered why the guy couldn't just take a vacation once in a while - maybe play some Skyllian Five, smoke a cigar or think calming thoughts that didn't involve torturing sentients, sticking it to humanity or sucking up to the diabolical machine race intent on annihilating everything.

At the end of the hall, there was a grandfather clock stained the colour of dried blood. It ticked impatiently, swinging its sharp gold pendulum back and forth, to and fro, as if issuing a threat. The last room on the right was the one that had shown the anomaly, although for all intents and purposes, it looked like a simple study. There was a desk, an open safe, already emptied, and a full-length oil painting of Saren Arterius posed on a flight-board, hovering a few feet above lush green hillside. He rested a long hunting rifle across his broad shoulders, while a small pack of his favourite varren sat on their haunches, licking their chops. One corner of the room was dominated by a large vid screen.

Just over Saren's desk, there was a bulky security camera, but compared to the tech they'd encountered elsewhere, it didn't pose much of a threat. Tali overloaded the cam's circuitry with just a few taps of her omnitool.

Shepard headed over to the desk, sliding open each of the three drawers. There were unmarked data-files inside, but it was impossible to know if they were relevant to the investigation. She opted to take them all and let Legion sort through them later.

When she looked up, she noticed Kaidan and Tali examining the portrait on the wall. Like her, they'd seen Saren in the flesh and could comment on the quality of the likeness - which was pretty good, although the artist had exaggerated Saren's already imposing height and added a bit more space between his small, menacing eyes.

"Quite fond of himself, wasn't he?" Kaidan murmured.

Tali snorted. "It's not as if he had a face worthy of high art. I hope turians didn't find that attractive."

"They didn't," Shepard replied, without thinking. She was about to elaborate on facial markings and what makes for a nice arrangement of fringe when she realized that her audience was not going to appreciate this as a merely academic discussion.

"Check this out," Kasumi whispered, looking at a wall on the other side of the room.

Jacob tilted his head slightly, squinting at the spot she pointed to. "It's just a dent. Maybe somebody was getting violent in here?"

"No, silly," she said. "Look again. See that little black mark? The hole? And look, the paint's less faded. There was something hanging here. Somebody pulled it down."

Jacob ran his fingers over the mark. "A'ight, if you say so. I'm not gonna go challenging your expertise."

Shepard had an idea. She reached out, grabbing either corner of the heavy gold picture frame and lifted the portrait from the wall. Hidden behind the picture was a crawlspace about three feet high and two feet wide.

"Pay-dirt." Kasumi rubbed her hands together. "Hmm, I wonder if Saren had a treasury room full of goodies..." Her almond eyes glimmered, seeming to dance with visions of fine art, first-edition books, maybe a little weapons tech...

Kaiden crouched down, eyeing the hole in the wall. "I don't exactly like narrow spaces, but I guess we're about to find out."

"You have fun with that," Jacob said. "Me, I'm not crawling around in any dark, dirty tunnels unless there's something real good on the other end."

"But what if there's a priiiiizze?" Tali asked innocently.

Jacob snickered. "Okay, well, if you all find some booty, then I'll be right over. Otherwise, this here soldier is staying out. To stand guard."

"Alright, stay then, 'fraidy-cat," Kasumi teased. "We'll go down the big-bad tunnel. You just better be watching our backs."

Crawling through the tunnel wasn't as bad as Shepard had thought, although it was hard to imagine Saren doing this voluntarily, not unless he had something very interesting to hide. Of course, rogue Spectres tended to have lots of interesting things to hide, ranging from skeletons in the closet to fresh corpses rolled under the rug.

The tunnel opened into a small room. As Shepard stepped out, a generator whirred to life and a panel of fluorescent lights flickered on overhead.

That's when she saw the device, spiral-shaped purple tubes supported by long metal spikes. That's also the moment she saw the two enormous combat mechs unfold their heavy limbs and begin marching towards her.

In situations like this, stealth was not very handy. A rocket-launcher, on the other hand, would have been great.

The mechs started firing their machine guns, forcing her to duck behind the only cover available: the power generator. She crouched against the boxy metal structure, grinding her teeth together as she blasted out round after round, well aware that if the generator took too much heat, it would create a very impressive explosion – one that would fry her nice and crispy.

She could hear Jacob's voice echoing down the tunnel. "Hey! I'm coming in to help!"

"Stay back!" she shouted, unsure if he could hear her. Their problem wasn't strength or numbers – it was all about positioning and the last thing they needed was another person crammed into that crawlspace.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Kaidan and Tali peeping out from the edge of the tunnel, trying to distract one of the mechs. Their position was vulnerable, too. One rocket in that enclosed space might be enough to take out all three of her team members. She sincerely hoped Kaidan had been practicing his barriers since their last encounter on Horizon.

Shepard sprinted out of cover, one of the mechs stomping after her. Machine gunfire was hot on her heels and she was grateful that big clunky bots were such epically shitty shots. She raced towards the other mech, which was closing in on Kaidan at the tunnel entrance. The mech behind her sprayed out another round of bullets and she slid under the other's legs, letting it take the damage for her.

The damaged mech turned towards its counterpart as if suspicious, conducting a quick IFF scan. Kaidan seized the opportunity, shifting out of cover to throw out a stasis field. The mech froze in place.

Stumbling backward, Shepard aimed for the inactive mech's blocky head and fired until her clip was empty. A trail of smoke rose from the machine's over-heated systems. She shielded her face with the back of her arm, as the mech's control cluster exploded.

Squeezing into the tunnel to hide from the other mech's fury, she nearly knocked over Tali. Working with Kasumi, she was chipping away at the bot's defences.

The mech's shields were failing. Expending the last of its power, it raised its rocket launcher arm, carefully aiming for the tunnel.

"That isn't good," said Kaidan Alenko, master of understatement.

He threw up a barrier and everybody else just blasted the damned machine for all they were worth. The mech swayed back on its heavy feet, ever so gently, and the rocket fired.

Shepard ducked, throwing her arms up over head and trying to cover whoever was nearest and most exposed. There was a blast, the sound of rocks crumbling around them and she toppled over, feeling a warm hand clenching hers, someone's chest rising and falling underneath her.

"Everybody okay?"

"Ow. Hit my head. Going to be feeling that tomorrow," Kaiden said, pushing some debris off his chest.

He let go of her hand, looking a bit sheepish. "Sorry, Commander. Impulse."

Kasumi laughed. "Okay, who's feeling me up? I don't go in for that kind of hanky-panky."

"Oops." Shepard pushed herself off Kasumi's chest. "Sorry. Wasn't trying to steal second base."

Some rubble stirred behind her and Tali's purple visor poked through, coated in dust. She used the edge of her veil to clean it off.

Squinting back towards the secret room, Shepard saw the combat mechs lying on the floor amidst a pile of rubble. The fluorescent ceiling panel was still flickering slightly, probably a bit blinkered.

Crawling out of the tunnel, she circled the strange device, eyeing it from different angles. It didn't look like a Prothean beacon, but she could see some structural similarities to the indoctrination device they'd discovered in the mine on Aequitas. Thankfully, no one had turned into a husk yet. She really loathed getting swarmed by those things, their clammy corpse hands swiping at her face and static erupting from their fingertips. Blowing their heads off with a shotgun, on the other hand - that could be quite satisfying, as long as you didn't give too much consideration to the fact that they used to be people.

Whatever the device was, it radiated a reassuring warmth, waves of energy undulating around her as if she were wading into a tropical sea. It was trying to calm her, to put her at ease, but Shepard had seen enough of these sorts of things to know that this was a distinctly bad sign. She stepped back, warning off her teammates.

"I'm thinking it's some kind of mind control," she said. "Courtesy of the Reapers."

Kaiden frowned. "Creepy. It sure is burning off a lot of heat."

"Mind control...well, it would make sense," Tali said. "When Saren wasn't on Sovereign, he'd have been here. What better place to put an indoctrination device to keep him nice and docile?"

"Why would he build a room to keep it in? Why would he have arranged protect it?" Kaiden asked. "If I were him, I'd have tossed the thing out the window."

"This is the same guy who let Sovereign 'improve' him with implants," Shepard said. "Maybe he thought it was something he could use to make himself more powerful, something that would help convince the Reapers that he and the turians would make good allies. Who knows what lies Sovereign fed him."

She turned to Tali. "Is there any way we can shut it down without blowing it to bits?"

Tali stooped down, examining the wiring. "I could disassemble it, but some of pieces function on their own power sources and I don't know how to shut those down yet. Moving it could be dangerous, Shepard."

"Is there anything safe to salvage?"

"It's hard to say. I don't understand how it works or even what it does. All I can do is guess. And when you're guessing, 'safe' is a relative term."

"I think we should risk it," Shepard said. "It's been sitting here for a while and it hasn't made any husks. Maybe it's defective. Maybe it's just weaker. I'm guessing EDI can figure it out. The Council has been on my case from the beginning to prove there's Reaper tech. If I could show them something..."

"I don't like this, Commander. Who's to say what that thing could do? If it could mess with Saren, it could mess with us."

"We'll have it for a few days," Shepard said. "If EDI can't succeed in disabling it by then, then I'll blow it up. No questions asked."

"What if there's a virus in it? Something that could infect EDI?" Tali replied. "She's already...questionable."

"We had to risk that with the Reaper IFF too – we got through it and took the information we needed. It's a risk, definitely. But in my mind, the biggest risk that we can take is not getting the rest of the galaxy on our side. On our own, we don't stand a chance against the Reapers."

Tali sighed. "If you want me to do it, Shepard, I'll do it. I can take it apart. But I really hope you know what you're doing here."

Removing an assortment of tools from her utility belt, Tali began disassembling the mysterious device.

With the device parts stowed away, they headed back through the tunnel, meeting Jacob in the study.

"You okay? Why didn't you want me covering for you?" he asked.

"It was already a case of not much space and too many people," Shepard said. "Don't worry. I won't let you miss the next fight."

"What a relief. I was starting worry that my life wasn't going to be in danger."

Tali cast a dubious glance at one of the bags full of parts. "Don't worry, Jacob. There will always be plenty of danger to go around."

They were about to leave when the automated door slid shut, seemingly of its own volition.

Kasumi rushed over, trying to work it open. "Chikushou...System's locked down. It's going to take a couple more min –"

She was interrupted by the sound of the vid screen clicking on, showing the face of Captain Severin.

"Hello again! Commander Shepard, how nice of you to pay us a visit!" He took a sip of brandy, sloshing it around in his mouth as if he intended to gargle. "I must take exception to your method of entry, of course. I don't suppose it would have killed you to make use of the front door? I'm not very familiar with human customs, but we turians generally find midnight break-ins quite rude."

Shepard felt as if her heart was trying to bash its way up into her throat. She took a breath, considering her options, and decided it would be best to just brazen things out. Severin seemed to be the type of person who'd enjoy a little impertinence in his enemies, provided they listened to his lectures and didn't insult his taste in liquor.

"Yeah, sorry about that," she said. "Just testing your security systems. They seem to be in...very good condition."

"Well, I must commend your tech experts on their skills. They did a commendable job, although they missed the audio bugs. And my, but you and your friends have terribly amusing conversations! I must agree: Saren really wasn't much of a looker. The fringe was all wrong."

"Glad we could entertain you," Kaidan muttered.

"But where's my old pal, Garrus?" Severin asked. "I'm sorry not to see him. A real disappointment. Especially under these circumstances. Back in the old unit, he was always trying to get me arrested for something or other. It would've been great fun to slap the handcuffs on him. Strictly in a law-and-order sense, mind you. He's not my type."

"Why don't we work out a deal?" Shepard said. "You pretend you didn't see us and I'll owe you a damned big favour. I'm sure we can negotiate something."

Severin chuckled, dabbing at the sides of his mandibles with an embroidered handkerchief. "In the past, I might've been tempted. I am very fond of credits and all the very nice things that credits can buy. But it's funny - I seem to have become very protective of this old place. It has a certain pull, a peculiar magnetism, don't you agree? It irks me to think of people of poking around, taking things they shouldn't. By the by, what is it that you're carrying in those bags, Commander?"

"Spare parts."

"Hrm. Well, I think I should like to have them back. Yes, I expect they are rather essential. What do you say we arrest you and I just take -"

There was a shot and the side of Severin's head exploded, spattering the screen with blue blood. Behind the gore, Shepard could see the captain's lanky body slumped across the cushy leather chair.

A taloned hand picked up the handkerchief from his lap and used it to wipe off the camera lens, then prodded the corpse out of the seat.

Lieutenant Amerantha settled into Severin's chair, her mandibles giving a clack of satisfaction. "Much better. About time he shut up."

Shepard glared at her. "What the hell? Why did you -?"

Amerantha calmly returned her gaze. "I didn't do that. You did."

A fog of yellow-green gas started to pour in through the floor vents. The smell of bleach stung Shepard's nostrils. Chlorine.

She instinctively reached to her neck, fingers groping for her breather, but it wasn't there. Damn. She'd been reluctant to weigh herself down with extra gear. She hadn't planned for a lack of oxygen, not on a terra-formed world. None of them had.

They rushed towards the locked door, the humans coughing, choking, as they buried their eyes and their mouths in the fabrics of their ski-masks. Tali's exo-suit and her air scrubbers bought her more time, but not much. She was occupied in trying to hack the security lock-down.

Shepard's eyes stung and her legs wobbled beneath her. She steadied herself against the wall. No sitting down. No resting. It would only fuel the fire raging in her lungs and searing up her swollen throat. Chlorine is heavy. Chlorine masses at ground level and works its way up.

Amerantha's chilly voice rang out over the gasping, each word perfectly enunciated and fastidiously clipped off at the end. "It would be messy to kill you in-person. But don't fret. People will come by to pick up the remains. Goodbye, Commander."

The vid screen switched off with a hiss of static. The gas kept pumping through the vents.